TIPS FOR EXPERIENCED SCI-FI GM’S

By Jonathan Hicks

Games losing their spark? Want to try something different? Here are a few hints on how you might be able to get things back on track.

There comes a time when the game needs a little ‘something’ to perk up the play. Players, GM’s, everyone will have a moment when the continuation is a little lacklustre and the campaign needs a boost. Luckily, the setting you have chosen is vast – and there are plenty of directions the game can go in.

DISCUSSION - First of all, and probably the most obvious, the gaming group should simply sit down and discuss where they would like to game to go. Don’t talk about plot details, of course, but knock around ideas about where the game could lead, or what other settings the group might like to play in. There are different kinds of sci-fi settings, with either dark dangerous planets filled with aliens, laser-fighting heroes with energy swords, or a post-apocalyptic world filled with danger and uncertainty. All these can be combined to make the setting dangerous and challenging.

CHANGE OF PACE – Let’s say, for example, the players have been spending three games searching for the whereabouts of a missing starship. There had been lots of talk, interrogation, accusation and stuff, but not much else. This is no fault of the players or the GM – the nature of the adventure calls for brains and lateral thinking.

Suddenly, out of the blue, a new threat arises as the players close in on the truth. And these guys don’t bother with brains, they have some heavy ordnance and they want to use it! Suddenly, the players have bullets and laser bolts shooting in every direction. The game has suddenly changed – their attention perks up and they have an incentive to get the problem solved quickly. And vice-versa: players always blowing things up? Then stop them in their tracks and have them suddenly realise they have to think a little, and using a twin-barrelled plasma injected auto cannon will not always solve their problems.

Depending on what the players like about the setting will depend on whether they respond to this or not. The fact is, if they’re playing a role-playing game set in a future universe then they’re going to be pretty open-minded anyway!

TURNING THE SETTING ON ITS HEAD – This is a little difficult and can be very disorientating for the players but can be very effective if handled properly. What if the players are suddenly thrust into a game world they know nothing about? Or the world they live in is a lie? You’ve no doubt seen The Matrix – this is exactly what I mean.

For example, let’s say the players have been blasting about the galaxy fighting evil in a big way, with exploding battle stations and death-defying starfighter combat in asteroid fields. How would the players react if, suddenly, their starship crashed on an uncharted world where everything was completely alien and the nature of the game was not to defeat evil, but to simply survive? The battles turn from laser fights into simply getting through the day – finding water and food, fighting off weird beasts. If some of the bad guys have crashed with them they may have to work together… the whole ideal of the setting is changed and the players, so used to the world they inhabit, must fight for another type of victory.

Let’s say the players are simple planetary surveyors who are suddenly thrust into an inter-galactic war, or they have been wandering a near-future Earth wasteland and discover that there are aliens abroad, or they’re flying an experimental orbital and are thrust through space and time into a future they hardly know, a kind of Buck Rogers situation. If you have a detailed setting and you throw players who have no idea what to expect into it, especially after playing many games in their chosen setting, this could work like a charm.

CHANGE YOUR GENRE – There are different types of science fiction and they all appeal to different kinds of fans. Some like the technology, the actual theory behind some of the ideas expressed by the creator, the possibilities they present. Some like the action adventure, the space battles and the laser fights. Others like the personal aspect, perhaps they’ve developed strange psychic powers or they are explorers of the cosmos. Different things appeal to different groups, but there’s no harm in passing over into someone else’s territory.

So you’ve been sneaking around dark starship hulks trying to eliminate the alien threat, or you’ve been wandering a wasteland trying to help others with your psionic skills. You may like it, but the game you are playing cannot be stretched out too far or it becomes repetitive and dull. It can be refreshing to change settings for a while, go from sneaking to blasting, from investigating to daring-do. What’s fun is trying out games you wouldn’t usually dream of touching; you may be surprised at how good they can be and how refreshing a change can be. When you come back to your chosen game world, you’ll find it welcoming and filled with fresh ideas.

MIXING GENRES – Usually, especially for beginning sci-fi GM’s, it’s not a good idea to mix the different sci-fi genres to create a hybrid setting. Inserting one genre with another can be hard work, as suddenly you have to cope with rules and ideas behind more than one game world, and you have all the extra design that entails, and you also may find it disorientating. If you do such a thing then it’s best that the genres ‘touch’ on one another, with elements of each setting just bleeding into each other’s realms. A full-blown crossover is not really a good idea unless you’re sure you can handle the extra work it involves.

For example, let’s take an actual, iconic sci-fi setting. Let’s say that the game has been set in the Star Trek universe. The players have been zapping about the Federation on the USS Microwave (or something) and the players, and GM, fancy a change but don’t like the thought of leaving the genre they’ve chosen. Unfortunately, the GM is a massive Aliens fan. So, one of three things can happen:

1 – The USS Microwave finds a derelict spacecraft and brings an actual H R Geiger alien on board the starship – players with phasers and tri-corders are then forced to run about a brightly-lit starship with a myriad of sensors at their beck and call to track down a beast which is supposed to be dangerous, but ends up being trapped in a force-field and secured in the bio-lab on deck seven. The game is over in exactly three minutes fifteen seconds. As you can see, the two genres didn’t mix very well.

2 – The USS Microwave discovers the alien beasts, but is unfortunately hit by a meteor storm that knocks out the lights, lose their sensors due to a technical failure, and the energy weapons don’t work due to a power leak. The alien is then able to traverse the decks and be dangerous, as it was designed to be. So, what is the result? Well, the GM got his alien in the mix – unfortunately, he had to sacrifice the reality of the game setting to make it work. The players feel as though they’ve been pushed into the situation with all the things that have gone wrong with the ship, that weren’t realistic anyway because everything was co-incidental. It might be fun, but it won’t last.

3 – The USS Microwave finds an H R Geiger-type alien, physically similar to the movie version but with differences, such as no tail, no bones sticking out of its back and a different shaped head. The creature is bought on board and kept in stasis where it is studied. The problem is the creature has subliminal psionic skills, so it convinces one of the crew, possibly a PC, to free it and sabotage the ship so that it can feed. The crewman does this and the alien runs about the sabotaged vessel doing its dastardly deeds. The players are within their game world and are reacting to a plausible situation – a creature they can relate to in one sense, as it’s a new life form they know nothing about but is iconic of the movies they have seen, and a creature that can exist within the PC’s game world as it has been subtly changed to fit.

So which one of the above works? Number 3, of course. The two genres were mixed successfully because changes were made to so they would fit together. Direct genre crossing is never a good idea, but actually changing one of the designs so that it fits within the game world the players are already in can work. It’s the idea behind the design that should be utilised, not the design itself. When in Rome, and all that…

CHARACTER BACKGROUNDS – Some players enjoy giving their PC’s a fleshed out background and these can be sources of inspiration for the GM. So the PC has been blasting about the galaxy and having grand adventures in the depths of space – but what if someone from the past resurfaced with a problem, threat or request? The odd throwaway name they used to fill out the character history suddenly appears. The friend they thought dead. The relative they had fallen out with, the rival that disappeared. This brings the game down to a personal level, and that may be distracting for other players who’s past it does not concern, but once the whole group gets embroiled and begin to find out more about their fellow adventurer, maybe things that were best left unknown, it can make for a very entertaining game. What if a whole group of people from all the PC’s pasts got together? Everyone is involved then, both personally and emotionally.

Another great format is to pick on the PC who’s past hasn’t been fleshed out. What if they suddenly discovered that their life was a lie? That they had had their minds wiped for some dastardly reason and were given a new personality? This can also work for those players who have fleshed out their past and believe it to be true, but it’s best to choose a player who you know will enjoy the role-playing challenge, as some players may be a little annoyed that liberties have been taken with a PC they thought they were in total control of.

SINGLE SYSTEM GAMES – Talking of changing settings is a great idea for those GM’s who want the challenge but there can be a drawback – the players may bee a little annoyed at the fact that in order to change systems they have to learn a new set of rules. This may put some of them off.

The answer is simple – don’t change systems. There are plenty of rulebooks out there to suit multi-genre role-playing, such as Steve Jackson’s GURPS and West End Games D6 or Masterbook Systems. These formats allow GM’s to utilise rules and chop and change their environments so that players can use the same rules yet in different settings. So, if you have a core set of rules, even rules cannibalised from the setting you already play in, then all you have to do is purchase the source material you need in order to play in the chosen genre. These types of rulebooks are highly recommended as you can also have a stab at fantasy or contemporary games, if you’re so inclined, to give your sci-fi batteries time to recharge.

So, after all that, there should be a few ideas bouncing around in your head. If you think some of the ideas you have had are too outlandish or twisted to work, don’t cast them aside. Make some notes and then try to imagine how the players may react to the idea and how it might fit in with the setting you are gaming in. This is the realm of science fiction, after all – anything can happen in the next half hour!